Project O2 and A Break From Blogging

So, turns out I didn’t make the ISRO test. That kinda hit me hard. I am still trying to come to terms with it. I don’t know about the job, but it would have felt nice just to have cleared the test. But that didn’t happen. So now, instead I have to feel like shit. I know I am no Electronics God, but I know my basics and I can work out problems. I sure was rusty when I attended the test, having put no preparation in and that’s my fault. (It can attributed to a few other reasons too, but that’s not nice. It’s better to just accept it that you failed yourself.) What this also means is that I might have to now take up my Software job. The one last straw of hope I was clinging on to, is gone. That’s depressing isn’t it ?

Anyway, I have been given a project to work on. At least something to cheer about. It’s nothing great, but if I have to make it fully functional, I’ll have to work on it a bit. (Maybe not as much as my Final Year Project, but considerable amount of work.) The best thing is, I might get paid a token amount if I complete it properly and on time. So, I am trying to keep myself in better spirits.

That means except for the IPL posts which I have time stamped (just one line dumb posts), I don’t plan to blog for a while now. I would like to kick myself instead for being an a-hole and not doing my test well. So much for my Rocket Scientist dreams. Damn it!! 

Envelope Full of Air

Thanks to my bro for showing me this video. It’s awesome.

CAPTCHA is Pissing Me Off

For the last few days, I have been trying to use CAPTCHA on websites to disastrous effect. I can’t seem to get it right !! And I don’t know how many people actually do. This is ridiculous. I mean if we can’t get it right after one, two, three, wait upto five tries, then something is terribly wrong.

Here are some snapshots:

CAPTCHA-01

CAPTCHA-02

While these few images may not be as testing as the other ones I encountered, it at least demonstrates that CAPTCHA is getting ridiculous. I shall post more images later. (Don’t comment on how your CAPTCHA images were worse either.)

Not all websites are bad. Just some. But it is progressively getting worse. Not so long before someone in the US files a lawsuit against these people for harassment over the Internet.

Sony Ericsson PC Suite

Ok, I know I said Sony Ericsson PC Suite doesn’t allow you to send messages, receive messages ..etc from your computer in my earlier post. However, looks like I was wrong.

No, it’s not like I did not check the features before going on my blog and criticizing Sony people. I am not a trigger happy kind of person. It’s just that the version that shipped with my phone didn’t have any useful features. (Sony guys, make a note of that.) 

Now, I installed Vista today and hence had to reinstall all the software. So, I decided to pop my Sony CD in and install the PC suite. To my astonishment, the PC suite that shipped with me phone was compatible only with Xp or below. What dumbasses ? For a phone that was released I think in 2007, I don’t see why they did not include a Vista specific software. Really sad.

So, I went online to search for a Vista compatible PC suite, even if it was a third party software. I however wanted to give Sony guys a shot and check out what was available on their website. This is what I found,

English Sony Ericsson PC Suite 3.204.00

And this is the PC suite that shipped with my phone,

PC Suite 2.0.60 (for Windows 2000)

So, I decided to download the new PC suite and it installed fine. However, I am still having some trouble setting my phone up. This is what I get to see when I connect it, almost indefinitely.

WTF ? How long does it take to install the drivers ?

DEMONOID IS BACK!!

Ok, Firstly, thanks to my friend Renju for letting me know of this. Only this morning, I was telling someone that Demonoid used to be a haven for great torrents, but sadly was no more. How idiotic of me!! Little did I know it was back online.

Go out there, get the music, the movies and the games you want. Don’t blame me for not having told you about Copyright violations though.

Demonoid’s State of Suspension:

After Demonoid went offline, finding quality torrents was always an issue, with the Internetflooded with spam. Thankfully, IsoHunt listened in to the wishes of people and allowed commenting on torrents. This way, bad, malicious and spam torrents could be avoided.

Read my earlier post here:

Demise of Demonoid ?

People who know about torrents, will be jumping with joy at this news. Yes, torrents on Demonoid are still old and need to be updated. Chances are you won’t find the latest torrents just yet. But knowing the Demonoid community, things will be back in no time. So keep your fingers crossed and just be patient. Also, when things are back, SEED. Till you reach a rario of 2.0 atleast. Don’t be selfish.

For people who do not know to use torrents, read this

A Guide to Using Torrents

Bleddy Project Report

Well for someone who writes I don’t know how many posts on an average per day, I am finding it incredibly hard to do my project report. Well, part of the reason is the fact that I am yet to complete a few modules. (Damn me for being lazy.) Why haven’t I completed it still ? I am just a lazy bugger that’s all.

So now, I am forced to sit and do it chapter by chapter. Worst thing though and something I really hate, the modules I am working on right now is forcing me to modify the modules that I had already completed and hence redo the documentation too. Friggin bad!! Now I am doing them twice instead of once.

I know no one really reads your project report and juniors benefiting from my report is the last thing on my mind. (Which is why you won’t find any of the implementation details in it.) However, I do set standards for myself and I’d hate to hand in a crappy report with stuff copy pasted from Wikipedia. (Jeez, stop that for heavens sakes!!)

My circuits are incredibly hard to draw on paint and the simulation tolls I have don’t have all of my IC’s. I finally found one which had my IC’s (or rather let me customize the IC’s). Sadly it drew a circuit that I felt like puking on. (Thank God, my monitor is vertical. Else, I might have.)

And to be honest, using Word is crappy. Especially if you have to draw Flowcharts and stuff. Hear that Microsoft ? (Of-course not. But if you do, do something about it.) And equations can be a nightmare. (I heard the office 2007 has something for flowcharts and stuff. Visio ? Not checked it out yet.) Well, I know we can insert symbols, but it’ s so bloody frustrating. The worst of all, naming all my figures and tables. God ,save me…..

 OK, I better get back to it now.

Microsoft SMS Sender

It’s a shame really that Sony Ericsson’s PC suite allows you to do very little. You can copy files and stuff and charge your phone (duh!!) maybe, but other than that, it’s not so great. It has this feature wherein you can synchronise contacts and appointments and stuff. Like I am ever going to need one. 

I remember some 5-6 years back when Nokia has this 5100 phone, that we could send and receive messages form your PC using the PC suite. So I set out the find an application that would allow me to do the same with my Sony Ericsson phone. I found the Microsoft SMS Sender.

You can find the original article that I stumbled upon, here: (I don’t wish to repeat stuff that’s already there elsewhere on the Internet.) 

Sending SMS Using Windows XP

However, on going to the Windows site to download the same, it asked me to verify if my Windows XP was genuine. Else it would not allow me to download this crappy 625KB application. What the heck ? Well, my Windows XP is genuine alright, but nevertheless, I am not going to allow these guys to check that before I can download this application. So I got it from another site anyway. Here’s the download link:

Microsoft SMS Sender 1.0

In XP it seems you can only send messages and not recieve them. It maintains a crappy log on a notepad file and the sent message cannot be found on your phone. But then I was pleased that it actually worked. It is supposed to work with data cable, IR or Bluetooth.

I did find a better software afterwards and it rocks. I shall be writing on the same later. I am sure there are more such software available on the Internet.

December (or Later) is Definitely Bad

Read Marc’s post here December Isn’t So Bad

What are we talking about ? We are talking about the tentative date of reporting for training with Infosys. While, it is still not confirmed that it shall take till December for us to be called for training, if people have been intimated that they need to report by December , then chances are the guys who have not been intimated so far (like me for instance) will be called even later. (Very slim chances of us being called earlier.)

Possible Upside:

Sure, you can use the time to go an a vacation or something. You can definitely stay home and recuperate form the bad dream which lasted 4 long uneventful years (read B.E/ college)  by taking rest. (But haven’t we been doing that for almost 6 months now ? Right form the 7th semester study holidays.)

Definite Downside:

I was expecting to be called by say July. Now I shall be missing 6 months’ pay. :(  Damn, I could have saved at-least 50k by then. Now instead, I will have no money in December. What will I buy myself for New Years ?

Salary is one thing. Another thing is losing 6 months in life. It’s almost like we will be joining with our junior batch. We could even end up being colleagues. Now, how much ever cool you think the long vacations are, that’s pretty shitty man. It’s almost like flunking a grade. Now, Isn’t that bad enough. At around the same time next year, you won’t have enough experience to show on your resume. It’s a permanent setback.

Backup Plan:

Infosys was supposedly my backup plan. But I didn’t know that my college guys would be bastards and not let me attend other core companies. So, now I am stuck with no alternate options but this. I did have a few other things in mind. Like GATE for instance. However, my dad felt I should give CAT (why do all dad’s think that ? ) and disagreeing with him meant that I couldn’t take GATE either. (Well, he has to pay for the application and the classes you know) GRE (translates to an MS in US) was never an option immediately after college for me. That would have to wait another 2 years.

Keeping myself engaged for 6 months:

I could do a lot of things to keep myself engaged. I am thinking of attending a few symposiums. I could toy around with a few things I have been always wanting to experiment with but never had the time. I could learn MFC and VC++ with some effort. (I do know MFC to an extent. But nothing commendable) There is no end to the things I can do. Oh, wait, did I forget to mention that I am lazy ? Yea, I am. Which means that I might end up doing none of the above and just put on an extra 5 kilos in 6 months eating an sleeping at home.

On second thoughts, I could probably do a course in something. Prepare for GATE maybe. We will have to wait and see…

Infosys Prescribed Books

Well the other day I was talking to my friend about the last college working day and this is what my friend had to say “F*** yaar, we completed Engineering” Only then did it strike me and the realisation set in. Oh, yes college is over. Now I shall have to get up from 4 years of hibernation and start working for a change. 

And now that it is decided I shall mostly not be getting any other alternative job, it might actually be a good idea to take a look at the Infosys offer letter. So, I removed it from my locker (almirah) and finally read it.

It says we are expected to learn a few things before coming there and here is a list of stuff they expect us to learn. (For people who are not from a computer background. So, CS and IT guys already know these things I suppose.)

• Fundamentals of Computers by V.Rajaraman , PHI

• Operating Systems by Collins Ritchie, BPB Publications

• C Programmingby Kernighan and Ritchie, Prentice Hall 

• Fundamentals of Database Systems by Elmarsi, Navathe (3e),Addison Wesley

• Operating Systems Conceptsby Silberschatz and Galvin, Addison Wesly

 Here’s a useful link for the book mentioned above.

ORK - 03 Quiz

ORK 01 and 02 were sometime in the distant past. Both got lukewarm responses. You can check the ORK page for list of Winners.  In keeping with tradition, I am asking just 2 questions. However, you shall find the two at-least a bit challenging. So, it should keep you occupied.

Answers can be mailed to karthik3685@yahoo.com, with the subject stating “ORK-03 Answers” latest by the 4th of March.

1) Connect the 6 pictures here and Put Fundaes

(Clue: Nothing to do with movies.)

(Additional clues:

01) Click on the thumbnails to get a bigger/clearer picture of things

02) pictures 02-05 connect with picture 01 and 06)

2) Connect

Happy quizzing.

The comments will be opened after the answering session closes.  

P.S: Some people have reported problems with the images. However, on checking the code, I found it alright. The problem maybe with the theme or something. Hard to say. In any event, pictures of Gauthami to Aamir Khan are not supposed to repeat themselves in the second question. (WordPress screwed something. I had to re-upload the pics Some bug. And it wasn’t the same pic as Sundar claimed Those were pics I uploaded earlier and deleted.)

I am also uploading a power point slide just in case WordPress decides to screw the post again. You can download/view the same here

ORK-03